STRANGE LOG: A Dark Ensemble

Believe it or not, I've been wanting to write more, just been busy and behind on a lot of stuff. There's a lot but very little to get to. Ya know, the Strange Logs are really supposed to be brief snapshots of my personal life and snippets of thoughts about things going on in media that aren't worth the length of an article, but lately, I've been using them as an opportunity to just write since I have very few opportunities as of late. Truth is gang, I've been a lot more level-headed lately, kicked an old habit and now I'm trying to readjust, focus on things, attempt to get back into old hobbies (whatever those are), just basically try to reclaim who I am. It's not easy, between being a dad and work, life has a way of gobbling you up. Anyways, let's get to a few things and see what's what;

Let's talk about something I've been talking about for a bit and that's manga, while I'm doing my Anime RE-Claimed series, I've been dipping my toes back in manga, reading popular titles and a few titles that caught my interest and some (maybe indy?) online mangas as well. I've been seeing "Kakegurui" just about everywhere (more specifically the main character Yumeko Jabami in a fit of gambling orgasmic euphoria clutching her breasts) and I decided to see what the hub-bub was about. I found the 1st volume a good introduction to not only the world but the characters within and what a novel concept, a series based entirely around a compulsive gambler. Next up is "Rent-A-Girlfriend" and I'm currently in the 3rd volume of that. It's a nice slice of life chill kinda manga that deals with loneliness and addresses a very interesting topic in a wholesome fashion and that topic is...well...in short, prostitution.

Hear me out, I am NOT calling Chizuru a prostitute BY ANY MEANS, but she does treat her profession as if it were something taboo, she is rented out, she does have a clientele' and she is paid by the hour...the only thing missing is the sex. All that being said, the topic of loneliness is a topic that isn't the topic of many mangas or animes these days and in "Rent-A-Girlfriend" I find their insights into the kind of person who not only uses such a service but performs such a service interesting and fun. Again, what a concept. Speaking of concepts, mangas have hit kind of a rut and I've noticed (for starters manga titles are getting as long as the titles to some Fall Out Boys songs...which have oddly enough gotten shorter...hrm...) there are WAY TOO MANY ISEKAIS! Like TONS of them! If you're unfamiliar with the term, an "isekai" is a genre in which the main character (usually male) dies or is transported to another world (the ones these days usually containing fantasy TTRPG elements). But there are SO MANY that it's pretty mindblowing. I haven't read any as I'm not exactly interested in them (except for maybe "Konosuba"...but that's mostly because of Aqua) and I tried watching "Re:Zero", I don't know seems like genre saturation for me, but what do I know, there might be a gem out there.

In regards to "indy" and or online mangas, three titles caught my interest for various reasons; the first is "DeadTube" a manga that deals with a gang of high schoolers who make snuff films. However, "DeadTube" suffers from being PAINFULLY edgy and if you're wondering what I mean by edgy you can check out my article HERE. "DeadTube" has a decent idea (in fact an idea my brother and I came up with years ago) but it lacks the refinement to really think out its world and just gets by on shock and gore. The next is "Please Just Die, My Darling" and this is about a character who gets infected with something called "bloodlust", so instead of confessing his love for his crush and visualizing them doing things that couples do, he confesses he wants to kill her and visualizes ways to make that possible. This is the kind of messed love story I've been waiting for but sadly it falls into "animeness" (article HERE) and by that, I mean "the concept starts off simple and then gets needlessly complicated". The complication, in this case, is the same complication in just about all animes that fall into "animeness" and that is he suddenly gains superpowers...and here I was hoping for a simple story of a boy trying not to murder his crush...oh well.

Everyone agrees this is a majestic frame, I can't disagree, it's pretty amazing, if not completely insane.

The 3rd is one that I've been seeing on Instagram and I'm not interested in reading it just because the premise sounds stupid...or at least what I remember and it all sounds very cliche' to me and that's "Chainsaw Man". Apparently "Chainsaw Man" has a pretty solid fanbase. But I'm tired of monster/demon slayer mangas (no pun intended to "Demon Slayer"...I've only seen 1 episode of yours and the movie...) but I'm talking about stories in which a character has to become a demon in order to slay demons for one reason or another. But whatever, I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is behind "Chainsaw Man" but from what I've heard I'm not interested, it's just on my "aware of" list.

For those who don't know this about me, I make music. Back in the days, I made quite a bit of music using a program called ACID, I have tracks on Youtube from my album "Evolution". No, I am not a paid artist or even an indy artist. I mostly make music for my own enjoyment and it's a hobby I've been out of for a LONG time and am now only slowly creeping my way back in. All the background music for my Youtube videos is purely my own and I'm really happy about that. And while I haven't made music in a long time (no real need to) once I get back into filmmaking, I'd like to be able to say I scored it as well. All of this is going to take a considerable amount of time, especially to re-learn certain things but I'm game. Until then I'll be enjoying the massive sound libraries that are available.

An old arrangement, but a good arrangement.

On a completely unrelated note, "Dexter" is coming back. Yes, our red-headed human hacker Dexter Morgan is getting a revival, why? Because Season 8 was bullsh*t and everyone knows it. Revivals and reunions seem to be the way things are going these days and that's pretty lame. If it's not an established property with a built-in audience then it's a franchise or a revival. Either way, Dexter is coming back and I have mixed feelings about it, for starters, this does not undo the nonsense that came before it (specifically, Hannah McKay, killing Debra and not REALLY dealing with Dexter getting caught or having some kind of reckoning with his Dark Passenger). So what can really happen in this revival that we haven't seen already? What can honestly happen that'll leave a better taste in fans' mouths than the finale? Because while I liked the "24" revival, it really didn't blow me away. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I just don't see it, also with (what's reported) little to none of the original cast returning, I doubt it'll be something balls to the wall crazy but we'll see.

In a bit of strange news, an ARG I've been semi-following called "I Am Sophie" and it's concluded? I put a question mark there because I have no clue what conclusion was reached in "I Am Sophie". I've only been following it through the videos made by Nightmind (only because like everything else I was late to the game) and Nightmind has covered this series very well, but where we last left things, things were getting weirder than they already had and that didn't seem like anything close to a conclusion. In the early days of Youtube, you could imbed links in your video to other videos, I used this trick to get people to check out videos that are unlisted, but Youtube has (for all I know) done away with this feature. I bring this up to say that the videos on the "I Am Sophie" Youtube page are the videos Nightmind addressed so...where was this supposed conclusion? I caught a QandA session with a Youtuber who had the cast discussing events in the ARG that I wasn't aware of. Sadly, according to the producer of the ARG, "I Am Sophie" is sadly unfinished despite reaching conclusion. I'll be waiting for a full and total breakdown of "I Am Sophie" but I doubt it'll come.

ARGs are sort of strange animals, because "I Am Sophie" seemed to be more of a web series with an interactive aspect to it. Sorry for being a definition lawyer but calling something a "game" implies "winner" and "losers" or something to "accomplish" should one put forth an effort. A lot of the ARGs out now just seem like web series and the ARGs of old well...ARGs in my opinion work more as promotional tools. Think NIN, the first "Cloverfield" movie, and a few others, Hence why if I ever did do an ARG, there would be some final project at the end of it, more than likely a movie. If making an ARG was simply just making a web series, I've done that already. The key for me, in my mind in regards to making an ARG would be to create something layered that at first glance is innocuous until someone takes a closer look. Who knows when that'll be, but nonetheless an ARG is something I'm very interested in doing.

So long, Sophie.

"Stranger Things" Season 4 is coming. What a strange (no pun intended) series. Starting off as an ode to "E.T." and other sci-fi movies of the 80s is now in its 4th Season and we're coming off a very strange 3rd season at that. The Mind Flayer managed to possess Billy and murder several people in town causing them to become mindless zombies and instantly liquify and join together to form him a body in our world independent from the Upside Down. El was bitten by The Mind Flayer and has seemingly lost her powers. Eleven losing her powers is a downside and hopefully something that isn't permanent because Eleven was ALWAYS the ace in the hole The Party had to combat the forces of evil. But oddly enough the 2nd Season established that there are more telekinetic children out there with the introduction of Kali (in what is considered by many the worst episode of "Stranger Things"). Now the 2 trailers have shown a few things, the first teaser showed that Hopper was not only alive but currently in Russia (possibly a gulag) and the Russians are currently in possession of a demigorgon (as we learned at the end of season 3). The 2nd trailer showed a group of children playing in a Rainbow room, the assumption being that these children are psychic as well.

I'm imagining that this Season will see Eleven (now living with the Byers family) getting her train on in trying to rebuild those psychic muscles, and possibly meeting Kali or some other psychic who helps her get her powers back. Since we're on the topic of powers, the enemy for this season NEEDS to be The Mind Flayer, I know he's old hat but we have yet to completely understand just who and what he is and what exactly is his connection to The Upside Down. Hell, we have yet to fully understand The Upside Down. Now granted, I'm not expecting a full understanding of it, but I at the VERY least want to understand why both dimensions have the same structures within if there aren't any humans in The Upside Down to build them? Is The Upside Down a mirror dimension? Meaning whatever happens on Earth happens there structure-wise? Do buildings just materialize or are they progressively built with no builder? ARE THERE PEOPLE IN THE UPSIDE DOWN? OR were they people and then became demidogs and demigorgons? OR did The people of The Upside Down join together and became The Mind Flayer? So much needs to be explored and I wanna know more about that place before we say goodbye to the series. Not that we are but I'm really wondering how many seasons this series has in the tank.

This mofo needs to make a comeback.

"Komi Can't Communicate" is getting an anime! That's amazing! As I recall the creator has said that he wasn't interested in making an anime, but as I imagine a briefcase full of money will make almost anyone do a 180, and now everyone's favorite socially anxious waifu is getting an anime. I've been loving the manga and I can't wait to watch this anime!

My socially anxious beauty!

Anyway, I'll try to write more articles, just dagnabit, motivation, time and everything else is getting in the way. That and a lack of ideas for articles. I could talk about the "Eternals" teaser, but in all honesty, this is the one Marvel movie that I'm not even remotely interested in as I don't know anything about The Eternals except that they used to tangle with Apocalypse (specifically Ikaris and Sersi). But anyway, I'm not interested in that. I could talk about the "Shang Chi" trailer which looks dope, but the ship has sailed on that being fresh to talk about, not that I care about talking about fresh subjects, just I got nothing new to add to the discussion. I have been thinking of writing more "What Ifs...?" about a slew of different things but we'll see. I'll leave it there, here's a GIF of my reaction to "Komi Can't Communication" becoming an anime. Catch you kids later!